Stupid Americans and their Candy
by Dark Rabbit
Summary: The CEO of KaibaCorp is young, but he's not used to acting young.  So a night Trick-or-Treating with his brother takes him by surprise.  Rated only for Seto's bad language.


Don't worry, o great owners of the YGO franchise, I am not trying to make any money off your licensed property, which I know belongs to you, not me.

"You're Trick-or-Treating, Kaiba-boi, you can't go out like that." Pegasus is standing in the doorway waving a mask at him. Maybe he'd have gone back and put it on too, if it weren't for the patronizing tone Seto heard in his voice as he said it.

…Maybe. Maybe he'd have said 'fuck you' anyway, and stomped out like he did, wearing the same white shirt and the old blue school-coat he normally wears on weekends, following Mokuba who's already rushed out ahead of him, wearing a Freddy Krueger costume and carrying the biggest sack he could find.

Maybe you have to be 11 to think Halloween is so special, Seto thinks, as he follows his brother out into the rabbit warren of twisting streets that so unexpectedly makes up Pegasus' neighborhood. Maybe you have to be a kid, or American at least (which is practically the same thing) to appreciate Trick-or-Treating, he thinks, which is after all, just a form of authorized begging. As the light sinks slowly in the western sky, Seto stomps down the street, trying – and failing – to keep up with his brother.

He finds Mokuba a street away. The boy's using his limited English skills to get candy, a whole lot of candy from the looks of it. Mokuba's bag is already getting full, and his smile is as bright as one of the Jack-o-Lanterns that lights all the houses along the street. Seto relaxes – just a little bit – and follows, as he finishes this street, and starts down the next.

The candy piles up quickly. Mokuba's smile is bright and eager under the wrinkly mask he wears, and the people who open the doors can't seem to get enough of looking at him and telling him how cute he is. Then they take big hands-full of candy out of their bowls and dump them into his pillowcase. Seto fights back thoughts about tooth decay and obesity. He tries to be happy for his brother.

Two streets later, and he's starting to get used to the idea. If stupid Americans want to give his brother candy, just for being little and cute, who is he to get in their way? …One street more, and it occurs to Seto that they'd get twice the candy if he went up to the doors too. He's not in costume, but he doesn't think that matters; there are plenty of boys his age on the streets, raking in treats with the little ones.

"Trick-or-Treat." Would his fellow executives in the game industry even recognize him? Maybe by the glare in his blue eyes, that's all. He doesn't have a sack of his own, but there's an extra handful of candy in his brother's pillowcase with his name on it, when they walk away from the house. Seto can't help smiling a little.

Now the other executives would definitely recognize him. They've all seen that smile, usually right before they gave in and gave KaibaCorporation a way better contract than they were planning to. They've the set of his head, that arrogant walk that's taking Seto up and down the sidewalks quite quickly now, quicker than his brother might really like to go. "You go up to the door first," he tells Mokuba. "Give them your cute smile, and then I'll come up and join you." Mokuba does, and their haul's almost doubled, and Seto's smile just grows bigger.

Mokuba practically can't carry the pillowcase any more, by the time they get it back to Pegasus' house. It's full practically to bursting, the expensive French-made double seams at the edges all that's keeping the brothers' candy from falling on the ground. And Seto wears the same smile as Mokuba: It's a pleased smile, a self-satisfied smile; his old rival's seen it before, but not when licensing contracts for the Blue-Eyes White Dragon weren't being discussed. Pegasus smiles a little too, his own smile more than a little bit smug.

He knows better than to say anything though. "Mokuba have fun?" he calls out. Seto nods. "Want a glass of wine?" Pegasus asks him.

"Fuck you," Seto says. "You know I don't drink." But Pegasus just watches him come up the walkway and smiles.


End file.
